In the department of Sooner Or Later, some belated
recording and things moving from the back burner: a musical
from the 1930s finally gets its due, a singer reunites in
the recording studio with past co-stars, a 1994 British cast
appears again on CD in the USA, and a karaoke company
catches up with a musical that happens to be catching up
with New Yorkers again this month. Better late than never.

It's one of those old shows with a score by one of
Broadway's giants that never got a recording until now.
Some of Irving Berlin's songs from the 1932 musical comedy
Face the Music show up on various albums, but its
most-often recorded one, "Soft Lights and Sweet Music," is a
straightforward, mild love song that gives no hint of the
high energy, often off-kilter zip that the show has in
abundance. Sixty-five years old, the score shows little sign of
senior citizen status, with the youthful energy and spunk provided by the cast
who performed the show onstage in the most recent
Encores! season at City Center in Manhattan. The
series' original music director, Rob Fisher, returns as
conductor and leads an orchestra that sounds sparkling as
they play the original orchestrations. The liner notes by
David Ives, who adapted Moss Hart's script, tell us that the
full orchestral and conductor's scores did not survive, so
there was some necessary jigsaw puzzle work done with what
was found, including changes made for a touring production
and a post-tour return to Broadway. Be that as it may, the
accompaniment does seem seamless and DRG Records has
presented us with a recording that sounds bright and shiny. Cast,
musicians, record producer Hugh Fordin and associate
producer Bruce Pomahac let us face the music with joy,
thanks to their dedication. It's a very light-hearted show
with a healthy dash of satire, but all concerned really
fluff up the fluff so that it's irresistibly cheery.

The story of an opulent musical revue being produced in
the midst of the Depression allows for some numbers to be
presented as segments from that troubled show within the
show. Others are plot songs. Those who like to dish about
theatrical disasters will get a special kick out of the
ensemble number complaining, "Well, of All the Rotten
Shows," with snarky lines like "What an awful mess!/ Who
would ever guess/ That a thing like this/ Could reach an
opening night?" Jeffry Denman and
Meredith Patterson, who have charm and spirits to spare, are
winning as two of the entertainers. They get a
lot of the chipper, charming, sunny material while others
add the spice and wacky factor. For example, feisty Eddie
Korbich and entertainingly screechy, peachy Mylinda Hull are
a rowdier song-and-dance pair, scoring with their
self-satisfied "You Must Be Born With It" and "I Don't Wanna
Be Married (I Just Wanna Be Friends)."

Top-billed Judy Kaye has less singing to do but but gets
to lead a dilly of a comic rouser, "If You Believe," and
participates in the oxymoronic "A Toast to Prohibition" and
the finale that hauls everyone into court when the show is
raided. As her husband, the corrupt police chief who backs
the show, there's good, blustery work by Lee Wilkof,
original lead in Little Shop of Horrors, which brings us to our next
item.

A production that toured Britain in 1994 has suddenly
shown up on CD from First Night Records, which has a history of
reissuing cast albums in shorter versions. This Little
Shop of Horrors has 11 numbers from the score plus a
12th track called a "mega mix" that dices and splices some
of the songs. This version is quite enjoyable, noticeably
less campy than other interpretations. It's not as wild,
but not quite mild. A more "relaxed" factor is present in lieu of manic energy.

Alan Menken and
Howard Ashman's score is always fun to hear, and
this Seymour and Audrey, Marc Joseph and Su Pollard, are
likeable and invested in their roles. Billy Miller as
the man-eating plant sounds less bloodthirsty and
threatening than we're accustomed to encountering. Marc is
endearing, if less nerdy, as our befuddled, naive hero and
has good chemistry with the other players including Morgan
Deare as a gruff Mr. Mushnik. "Be a Dentist" has a perky
quality absent its sadistic side. "Somewhere That's Green"
comes off as a more traditional ballad in the attractive and
no-frills reading by Su, who is solely billed above the
title.

The accompaniment is on the thin side with a patina of
pop that sounds kind of pre-fab (the credits list Alex Yates
as doing drum programming, but, although there are credits for
mixing, producing and assistant musical director, it's not
clear who is actually playing an instrument). No
information is given beyond the basic credits here, the cast
and song list. The thick booklet here is actually a
catalogue of other CDs from the company.

Those who find the main versions of this too intense and
or caffeinated will find pluses here, but anyone with a
strong fondness for the score will be happy to
experience this alternate take. With some songs not
included, it's a littler Little Shop but it still
catches the essence of this popular, pop-inflected
musical.

Her resume includes stage work with a growing list of
male singer-actors, but little chance to record with them.
So, soprano Laurie Gayle Stephenson is making up for lost
time by putting out an all-duets album. Her prior CD, Till You Find Your Dream, like this
one, was almost all Broadway songs. This one has one from a motion picture,
Quest for Camelot's "The Prayer" where Laurie shares
vocals with sturdy-voiced Steve Amerson who reappears for
the one Rodgers and Hammerstein item, "I Have Dreamed."

Laurie has a full, wide-ranging soprano with a prominent
vibrato on some selections. Plowing through the repertoire,
there's more attention to soaring melody lines than lyric
interpretation and personalization. This is true for Laurie
as well as most of her male partners. An exception is a
more invested-sounding Max Von Essen who impresses with the
CD's title song, from The Woman in White. That selection is one
of four Andrew Lloyd Webber melodies among the 14 tracks; Laurie toured in concerts of
Webber's oeuvre and spent two years on Broadway as Christine in
Phantom of the Opera. She shows off her skills in "All I Ask of You" with Gary Mauer and is joined by strong-voiced Davis Gaines as she very ably takes
on on Phantom's title song. It's great to hear her face the music
and ace the music with that ascending, ascending section at
the end. "Seeing Is Believing" (Aspects of Love) is ardently sung with Brad Little.

Other JAY Records solo artists, theatre singers Ron
Raines and Doug Labrecque, also appear to advantage. Laurie
was in the original Broadway company of The Secret
Garden, graduating to the lead during the run, and she
reprises the show's "How Could I Ever Know" joined by
another original cast member, Howard McGillin. Like much of
the album, it's powerfully sung but overly
earnest.

This is a conservative, traditional album:
the original orchestrations from musicals
are used (and they sound grand as played by the National
Symphony Orchestra, with five different conductors sharing
baton duties) and the singing likewise follows
the mold. It plays rather like a concert hall
presentation with little of the intimacy or small moments
the studio can provide. It's pretty much one
ardent and dramatic proclamation of love (often undying
love) after another. Each man steps up to the plate to be
the true love du jour and there's a certain similarity to
tone, both in vocal qualities and tone of the material. The formality of the singing
works against the playfulness of Irving Berlin's
contrapuntal cutie, "You're Just in Love" with J. Mark McVey
and Cole Porter's "It's De-Lovely" with Ciaran Sheehan.

But there's vintage Broadway romance here and the
orchestra swells excitingly - it's always a treat to hear a
large orchestra on a vocal recording, and producer John Yap
shows his usual care for sound quality and precision. No
stinting here. It's a lush album, and there's some glory in
Laurie and her no-holding-back ways.

UNDER THE RADAR

Here's another karaoke CD that will appeal to those who want
to learn the songs or are performing the show.

Though it's long past the Broadway run, Stage Stars has gotten to Stephen Flaherty and
Lynn Ahrens' delightful Dr. Seuss-derived Seussical.
And it's just what the doctor ordered for this summer,
really, as the kid-friendly show is opening again in New
York City this coming week in a special, compact version
Off-Broadway as part of the series by Theatreworks at the
Lucille Lortel Theatre (this recording is not related to
that production).

This 2-CD
set has all the instrumental-only tracks on one disc, with
strong melody lines and sprightly instrumental figures.
(The bouncy, quirky style of the score lends itself more
naturally, perhaps, to the synthesized sounds.) The point
is the melodies are easy to follow on these tracks, in the
best kind of spoon-feeding sense. And that's what karaoke
is meant to do.

But as usual, Stage Stars is more than tunes fed on
spoons. With the talent and enthusiasm of its
theater-experienced singers doing the "guide" vocals on a
separate disc, it is more like an alternate cast album. There's no blandness or
phoning in of characterization - these youthful-sounding
players really get into the characters, eccentricities and
all. Vicky Modica as Gertrude McFuzz is delightfully brazen
and loopy. Christina Bianco is a marvelous Mayzie, and young
Brian D'Addario is spot on as little JoJo plaintively
singing one moment and then brimming with optimism and joy
in "It's Possible." Particularly impressive and in
character is Kristopher Monroe, who has also stood out on
other CDs in the series. He makes a mischievously merry Cat
in the Hat and is thoroughly captivating and entertaining.
Jason Wynn returns as musical director and also nails Horton
the Elephant, packing the pachyderm character with
personality and a real sweet quality. The ensemble work
here is particularly good and spirited.

This set includes lyrics in a booklet, and the graphics
will show up on a screen with a compatible karaoke CD-G
machine, too. The songs are in the original show
keys and tempi, with 18 tracks in all. And it made me
smile. But the main point is to be able to sing along and
you can do that, too.

... And next week - new Broadway cast albums: Legally Blonde and The
Pirate Queen. So show up for the show tunes,
please.